IP5 offices agree on joint PPH pilot programme

EPO
President Battistelli: "Promotion of the PCT as global framework for
work sharing"

Geneva/Munich, 24 September 2013 -- The world's five
largest Intellectual Property Offices (IP5) - the European Patent Office (EPO), the Japan
Patent Office (JPO), the Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO), the State
Intellectual Property Office of the People's Republic of China (SIPO) and the
United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) - agreed to launch a
comprehensive IP5 Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) pilot programme as of
January 2014. The programme will utilise both PCT and national work products
and will improve the accelerated treatment of patent applications. The PPH
arrangements currently operational between the IP5 Offices will be integrated
in this all-inclusive scheme.

Meeting in Geneva, EPO President Benoît Battistelli, JPO
Commissioner Hideo Hato, KIPO Commissioner Young-min Kim,
SIPO Deputy Commissioner He Hua and the Deputy Under Secretary of Commerce and Deputy
Director of the USPTO, Teresa Stanek Rea, endorsed a pilot programme which
leverages fast track patent examination procedures already in place at the IP5 in
order to enable obtaining patents faster and more efficiently. Under the
programme, applicants whose patent claims have been found to be patentable by
one office may ask for accelerated processing of their corresponding
applications pending before the other IP5 offices. Moreover, in carrying out
the task the offices concerned will also exploit already existing work results
to the extent practicable. Requests to use the PPH can be filed with any of the
IP5 Offices both on the basis of PCT as well as national work products
established by the IP5.

"I am pleased that the first ever all-inclusive PPH
pilot programme is launched under the PCT framework. It is a very promising
step on the way of facilitating the life of users in five big economic regions
which represent 85% of the patents granted in the world" noted EPO
President Battistelli. "While the programme allows the Offices to gain
additional experience in utilising each other's available work, it will support
the aim of promoting the PCT as the primary global framework for
work-sharing."

Details and requirements for participation in the IP5 PPH pilot
programme will be announced at www.epo.org.

For further information on the IP5 PPH pilot programme,
please contact